We're Not A Couple

Moony

All characters that you recognize are JK Rowling's.

At long last! The sequel to Hermione and Ron! Sorry I kept ya'll waiting! I hope you like this, now that my writing skills are WAY more refined. –Moony

Chapter 1

Seventh year – graduation day...

It was a beautiful day; bright sunshine, flowers blooming and the grass waving, puffy clouds floating lazily against a blue sky. It was the perfect graduation day. Except Harry wasn't there.

It had been ten months since he had died along with Voldemort. Not everyone was used to it yet. Voldemort was vanquished, but so was Hermione and Ron's best friend. The thought saddened the day a little bit, for Harry never got to graduate.

Hermione ran to Ron and hugged him.

"We graduated! We graduated!"

"As if we were going to be held back," Ron snorted, rolling his eyes at Hermione's excitement. Hermione watched as Ron stared blankly at the sky.

"What is it?" Hermione asked tentatively, though she was sure Ron was thinking among the same lines as she was.

"Well... I was just thinking, that... Harry never got to graduate from Hogwarts. And well... he really never got to have one school year where he had to go on a death trip because something happened to him. He never had a normal school year."

"But Harry is probably happy now. He's with his parents. And Sirius. Somewhere up there."

Ron sighed.

"I know... but... I don't mean to be selfish or anything. I just wish he were with us too."

Hermione put her arm around his neck.

"We'll see him again."

"Yeah. I suppose we will."

Hermione smiled.

"Do you... do you want to come with me to the ice skating rink Saturday?"

Ron chuckled. During the winter holidays, Hermione had taken him to the rink, and Ron had not got the hang of it at all. He put one foot out... then fell. It was like that, until Ron finally crawled out and had a drink of orange soda, looking at it oddly and commenting it stung his tongue, sort of.

Yes, they were getting together now. Ron remembered how in the 6th year, Harry had pushed them together. (A/N: I know in Hermione and Ron that it was 7th year, but just pretend it was 6th ok?)

"I'd like to," Ron said.

"Ok. This time you can get one of those sleds that you can hold on to and push and skate," Hermione said, smiling.

"As if it would help," Ron snorted, "I'll probably manage to find some way to fall. But hey, can we have that orange fizzy stuff again?"

"It's called soda, Ron."

"Let me go..."

"Well, honestly, you should at least try to learn."

Hermione looked around at the different booths that had been set out.

"Oh Ron! Yearbooks!"

Ron looked up.

"Yearbooks?"

"Yes! Shall I buy two?"

"Two? Um... well..."

Ron turned a slight shade of red.

"I don't think I have enough money."

"Oh don't worry, it'll just be a small gift from me, ok?"

Hermione said, smiling.

"Oh, ok... sure."

Hermione walked off hurriedly to the booth. Then called back.

"I'll get our names printed in gold on them! It's just an extra three sickles!"

"Ok!" Ron shouted back.

Ron looked at the sky, all the flowers, the grass, the young wizards happily chattering, the ribbons, and all the signs and banners. Everything had changed since ten months. Harry wasn't there. Everything was happy, Voldemort was gone. It made him angry. He felt it everyone should've been mourning. But everyone was celebrating... Malfoy had changed too. The arrest of his father had settled him down into a quiet person who scuttled out of crowds and didn't talk to anyone. And everyone... everyone just lowered their voices and hushed each other when he or Hermione walked into the room, like he was deaf and couldn't hear what they were whispering.

"Oh... poor Ron... poor Hermione..."

"I feel sorry for them..."

"Voldemort's dead... but they're not happy... they're not over Harry's death yet..."

It drove him crazy. Like he couldn't hear. He couldn't take all the sorry pity. Lost in his thoughts, Hermione's voice rang.

"Here you go!"

She exclaimed, handing him a red book.

"But I thought I just saw someone walking off with a black one..." Ron said.

"Oh but she was a Hufflepuff. You get the yearbook in your house colors."

"Oh..." Ron said, not really listening.

"You know, tomorrow, we're getting on the train. And never coming back again..." Hermione said slowly.

Ron turned around sharply. The thought of that was depressing.

"No we're not. We'll come back. Someday. Maybe as a teacher or something."

"I suppose you're right, but it's depressing. I mean, we're going to have to find jobs... and everything. It's like we just jumped ten ages and grew up."

"I know..."

Hermione leaned her head on Ron's shoulder.

"Ron..."

"Mhm?"

"After... after... after Harry died... what ran through your head the minute you heard?"

Ron remembered. It was a horrible kind of feeling.

"Well... I guess... I sort of... I mean... I dunno... it was like a brick falling on my head. And everything blanked out. And then my throat and nose kinda clammed up and there was this feeling... this feeling I can't describe."

"Sorrow?"

"No..."

"Anger?"

"No, that's not it either."

"Hurt?"

"No."

"Well that's an odd feeling..."

"Yeah. It's kinda like all those rolled into one, and then something else I don't know."

"Mmm... is Ginny ok?"

Ron snapped up.

"Ginny?"

"Yes... she took it pretty hard... the news, possibly as hard as us."

"Well... I don't think the hurt ever goes away. I don't think you can ever be ok. But you know, you just sort of live your life, but when you get a quiet moment, it comes back to you. It's never completely gone."

"Ron... since when did you learn words like that?"

"I didn't learn them. I realized them after Harry..." Ron took a deep breath, "After Harry died."

Hermione didn't know what to say.

"Well... I guess we should... we should, go in to the End of the Year feast?"

"Yeah, guess so."

Neither of them saw a small tear falling from each other's eyes.